August 31, 2008. DJ Kennington and the Castrol Dodge team once again had to fight right to the finish at Cayuga Speedway during round number ten of the NASCAR Canadian Tire series this past Saturday night. While the team isn’t thrilled with their final finishing spot, they are happy to have tightened up the championship battle.
Through the afternoon practice Kennington demonstrated the significant Dodge horsepower posting the third quickest qualifying time. “We continued to make some dramatic adjustments on the car and really felt like we had made some progress” said Kennington. “The key was to keep it going during the race”.
During the first third of the 200 lap event the Castrol Dodge team had things working their way. Kennington would take the lead for the first time on lap three and score five bonus points. “The car was just a little bit free but okay in the first part of the race and we got the bonus points and then waited to see how it played out. “But once again we found ourselves not handling quite the way we wanted”.
As the laps ticked away the Castrol Dodge would be a handful for Kennington to drive drifting up from the preferred low line especially in the corners. Kennington would surrender the lead on lap 70 and had his hands full for the rest of the night. “Even after the pit stop for tires we just weren’t quite right and it we had some other troubles later”.
As the laps continued to tick away Kennington knew the Castrol Dodge was not anywhere near 100% healthy. What proved to be puzzling was the reason for trouble. DJ who is always easy on the throttle to prevent tire problems had blistered the right rear tire that would eventually lose air pressure and cause the #17 Castrol Dodge to spin. “The strange part is the car handled better today than it has for much of the year, but obviously we’ve got more work to do yet, it’s frustrating, things that are out of your control happen that’s when it gets really frustrating” said the driver.
As always the attitude of the Castrol Dodge crew was to dig in and work even harder to overcome adversity. Kennington would wheel the #17 car home to a top-ten finish. After eight straight top-five finishes they are disappointed with the outcome but pleased to be in the championship hunt heading to round eleven.
DJ Kennington sits third in the overall championship standings, just eighty eight points behind the leader with three races remaining.
The NASCAR Canadian Tire series will return to action at Barrie Speedway this coming Saturday, September 6th. Last season Kennington won both races at Barrie Speedway. The 2008 NASCAR Canadian Tire series will consist of thirteen events on ovals, road courses and temporary street circuits from coast to coast. Each race will be broadcast on TSN. More information can be found by logging onto www.djkennington.com and www.nascar.ca
Attached photo: Castrol Dodge under the lights at Cayuga Speedway // Photo Credit: Rod Andrews of www.canadianracer.com // This release prepared by TL Sports & Entertainment
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